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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24377458">The Secret Garden</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviss/pseuds/Aviss'>Aviss</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Lawyers, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Jaime has no game</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:14:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,707</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24377458</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviss/pseuds/Aviss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>All cities have little magical places, Jaime Lannister has found one where he can just be himself for a bit and escape his life and family. It's in that place he meets the perfect woman. And for meet we mean, stare at like a creep with no game. As his friends say, thank the gods he's pretty.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Tormund Giantsbane/Brienne of Tarth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>343</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>483</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/gifts">miera</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This happened in response to Mierac's short fic prompt - Someone's favourite bench is occupied and they're not happy about it<br/>It looks like at some point in my life I forgot how to write short and well, this happened. I have a very vague idea where I'm going with this, but I know I'm going somewhere. I guess we'll all find out together.<br/>I haven't forgotten about Seven days, I swear, I hope to have the next chapter done soon-ish.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jaime found the little park almost by chance.</p><p>It wasn't even a park, more like a garden hidden among the tall buildings of glass and steel that had become the norm around Vysenia's Hill. In the middle of that, like an oasis in the Dornish desert, was a small patch of wilderness right behind a church of the seven and buffetted on two sides by rows of backdoors of fast food restaurant chains. It couldn't be bigger than Jaime's flat and had a little cast iron fence overgrown with vines and, once he located the door and slipped inside, all kinds of flowers and vegetation mixed together every which way, tall trees and mismatched flowerpots overcrowded with colourful blooms and chipped stone benches and even a little pond, so small it was just a puddle. </p><p>It should have been ridiculous, Jaime was immediately charmed by it. </p><p>He found a bench right by the puddle and under the shadow of the biggest tree and sat there to eat his lunch, a rare feeling of calm invading his senses as the birds chirped around him and the only other two visitors of the garden sat in silence on their own benches.</p><p>It became his secret place, his little retreat from the office when his father's demands and his sister's jealousy became too much for him to endure. He would go out and get Dornish or Mereneese food and eat sitting on his bench, shaded by his tree and listening to the birds. Sometimes he would bring something to read, but most of the time he would just sit there and breathe, trying not to think about anything. Especially not work or his family.</p><p>It was all he could do today not to run out of the meeting to go there.</p><p>"You're always shirking your responsibilities with this family, Jaime," Tywin had said, eyes cold and mouth a thin line. "It's time you grow up."</p><p>Growing up, according to Tywin, meant he had to stop taking pro-bono cases and had to devote himself just to the kind of paying assholes who could afford Lannister &amp; Lannister. They usually were the kind of assholes that thought they could get away with murder, in some cases literally, because they could afford to hire Lannister &amp; Lannister. Like that slimeball Baelish, who had been profiting of revenge porn videos and was now being sued by the victims. Jaime didn't want to even be in the same room with him, the man was a creep and no better than the cunts who sent him the videos, he deserved worse than just being fined millions.</p><p>Tywin had not been happy to hear Jaime say that.</p><p>"Do you have to be so much of a bleeding heart?" Cersei had added, her lip curled in distaste. "He's paying us well enough, they should know better than letting themselves be filmed."</p><p>Jaime had choked on the need to get away from them.</p><p>The moment he stepped into his little secret garden, he felt he could breathe again, the poison of the meeting draining out of him. It was as if the greenery surrounding him produced the extra oxygen he sorely needed, the silence only broken by songbird enough to quiet his mind. He gave a slight nod to the elderly lady sitting by the roses with her knitting, the same he always did, and took the turn in the path by the hydrangeas that would take him to his bench. </p><p>He stopped when he realized there was someone already sitting there. It took a moment for his brain to register because it was the first time in two months he'd seen someone new in the garden, and this person was new. There was no way Jaime would have missed someone who appeared to be as tall and broad as he was himself, with pale blonde hair and dressed in a cream suit with an odd cut. They were eating a sandwich one-handed while reading a book, completely oblivious to having derailed Jaime's plans to relax in his favourite spot.</p><p>Jaime narrowed his eyes in annoyance at them, though he knew he was being ridiculous, and moved to the empty bench on the other side of the puddle. This one was under a patch of sun and much too close to the fence that anyone could see him from outside. He sat there, anyway, darting occasional looks at the bench thief, his mind going around in circles over his real problem. </p><p>He didn't want to work for his family's firm anymore. </p><p>He didn't want to have to defend the kind of scum he usually got saddled with because he was the best they had. He felt dirty after those trials, wanted to scrub himself raw and drown in whiskey just so he could sleep. He had followed his father and his sister into law because it was expected of him and he was good at it, he was better than the both of them, something Cersei had never forgiven him for. He didn't have the stomach for it, never had, and it was dawning on him he never would.</p><p>Tyrion had told him, years ago, that he needed to leave the firm before he became like Tywin and Cersei, and he had been right. </p><p>A sudden noise made him turn to his bench and all thoughts of his family vanished. The person on the bench stood up, empty sandwich wrapper in one hand and the closed book in the other, and Jaime got a good look this time. It was a woman, one as tall or even taller than Jaime and possibly broader. Her face was a study on big mismatched features, from the clusters of freckles on her broken nose and cheeks, to a huge mouth with plush lips. She couldn't be called attractive, in fact she was possibly downright ugly, but Jaime couldn't stop looking at her once he saw her eyes, the most beautiful eyes he had seen. They were so blue and so calm, deep like the ocean after a storm. </p><p>Looking at them, even for a moment, had the same effect on him as sitting on his bench and forgetting about the rest of the world for an hour.</p><p>He was still thinking about her when he got back to the office.</p><p>…</p><p>The next day Jaime was back in the garden for lunch. </p><p>He had successfully avoided both his sister and his father and his mood was much improved because of that. He knew he still had to make a decision, one he knew was already made but still needed to get the courage to implement. </p><p>He had no reason to believe the blue-eyed woman would be back as well, but she was. She looked up from her book as if sensing Jaime's presence, and when their eyes met annoyance that his bench was taken again was the furthest from his mind. </p><p>He took the other one again and enjoyed his food while he tried not to think about anything. He couldn't help but dart occasional looks at the woman, though, hoping to meet her eyes again. There had been something in them he liked, and Jaime liked so very few people he was immediately intrigued. </p><p>Disappointingly, she didn't look up while she read, though she had to be aware of his gaze on her because at some point her face flushed, bright spots of colour rising on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, even her ears turned pink. Jaime found it strangely endearing. He ate his lunch, and looked at her, at the delicate way her large hands held the book and turned the pages, the twitching of her mouth and the furrow in her brow in response to whatever she was reading. And he didn't think about his family at all. </p><p>When she stood to leave, she looked in his direction again, their eyes meeting for one heartbeat, the blush covering her face again. </p><p>Jaime smiled at her, she all but ran from the garden.</p><p>…</p><p>He went early the next day but if he stayed one minute more in the office he would scream. </p><p>Jaime had found the dossier for the Baelish case already on his desk in the morning, assigned to him in spite of his protests, his usual team of assistants and paralegals shoved to the side so he could work with Tywin's teams of snitches and bootlickers to keep him in line.</p><p>He had sat at his desk for a full ten minutes, unseeing, his fingers itching to type the letter of resignation that was finally going to get him disowned. Instead, he told Pia, his assistant, that he was taking an early and long lunch, and fled the noxious air of the office.</p><p>Blue eyes wasn't in the garden and Jaime hesitated for a moment before going to the bench under the tree and sitting there. He started composing the letter in his head but didn't get further than '<em>I can't do this anymore</em>'. He needed to know what he was going to do afterwards. He knew his family, Tywin wasn't going to just let him go, being disowned was the least of his problems. He had enough of his own money that he didn't need to work for the rest of his life, but that wasn't him and making an enemy of Tywin Lannister was never a good idea, even if he was his son. </p><p>He needed a plan. </p><p>Jaime looked up when he heard steps on the stone and gravel path, and he looked up to see Blue eyes approaching. She wasn't wearing a suit this time but a dress, a long blue summer dress in deference of the heatwave that had rolled into King's Landing the previous evening and was making everything muggy and stifling. She was also wearing high heeled sandals that made the long legs revealed by the slits of her dress look eternal, and gave her already impressive height a few more centimetres. She stared at him, at the uneaten tray of sushi on his lap where he had been ignoring it while lost in his thoughts, before she turned to the other bench with a sigh he felt even from there. She sat there with her book, the sun making her hair bright as a halo around her head, her eyes looking even bluer than the sky when she looked up a few times.</p><p>This time it was Jaime who left early. "All yours," he said with a smile when he passed close to her, the sun was already burning the skin of her shoulders making the freckles covering them and her arms stand on relief. Jaime itched to count them.</p><p>"Thank you," she said, standing up and passing by his side on her way to the shade.</p><p>Jaime smiled all the way back to the office, and not even his sister's unannounced visit was enough to sour his mood.</p><p>…</p><p>"You can always open your own firm," Elia said as she refilled their wine glasses, the delicious cake Jaime had brought for dinner nothing but crumbs and good memories. "Take only the cases you want to take, protect the innocent like the oldfashioned knight you have always wanted to be."</p><p>"The public defender's office would love someone like you, you know," Addam added after taking a big gulp of his wine, sending a quick smile at Elia. "Enough people come through the precinct that ends up in the system because they don't have good representation."</p><p>Jaime was finally relaxed after they had finished the second bottle of wine, loose enough he had told them about his intentions to quit the firm and the complete blank he was drawing about his future. </p><p>"I wouldn't even know where to start with that," he said with a shrug, it was the truth. He was a great lawyer, but he knew next to nothing about business. "Let's talk about something else, I've had that in my head the entire week, I don't want it to ruin my weekend as well."</p><p>Elia and Addam exchanged a look that spoke volumes. They were about to gang up on him. He should have never introduced them. "Fine, let's talk about Blue eyes then," Addam said, a very unbecoming smirk on his face. Jaime groaned and glared at him. </p><p>Elia dropped her chin on her hand and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, let's talk about Blue eyes."</p><p>"You guys are the worst friends," Jaime whined, grabbing his glass and drinking to cover his blush while his friends laughed at him. </p><p>He might have told them about the little garden's newest visitor while they were preparing dinner, all three of them crowded together in the kitchen with the first bottle of wine and talking about their week. Jaime might have referred to their last exchange as '<em>the highlight of his shit of a week</em>' and to her eyes as '<em>the most astonishing ones he'd ever seen'</em>, it had just been an offhand comment made to remark how bad his week had been. It hadn't been intended for them to latch on the Blue eyes part of the tale. </p><p>"So you're going to talk to her next week, aren't you Jaime?" Elia continued as if he hadn't spoken. </p><p>"I don't even know if I will have time for lunch, I have a case to prepare for," he lied. He knew he was going to spend as much time in the garden as he could get away with for exactly that reason. His friend's unimpressed faces told him they could see through him. </p><p>"Of course you're going to go," Addam scoffed with an eye-roll. "This is the first person you've been attracted to since--" he looked at Elia for help. </p><p>"Ellaria, and I think that was just to piss off my bother.."</p><p>"Oh yes, <em>Ellaria</em>." They laughed and Jaime grimaced a bit. It hadn't been to piss off Oberyn but to catch his attention, and it had been a long time ago. It had worked, too. "So, of course, you're going to the garden and will just stare at this woman."</p><p>"What do you suggest I do? Approach her like a random creep?" </p><p>Elia gave him a pitying look. "I hate to break this to you, Jaime, but if you've been staring at her for two days without saying anything, you <em>are</em> a random creep." He winced, she might be right.</p><p>"Lucky for you, you're very pretty," Addam added, "people tend to forgive many things to pretty people.</p><p>Jaime grabbed a bit of the leftover bread and chucked it at his head.</p><p>He thought about that during the rest of the weekend, which wasn't very long since he stayed at Elia's place that night, the wine and the good food and even better company dragging him down until he couldn't keep his eyes open. He slept in her guest room, as he always did when they had these dinners, fighting for the covers with Addam who had obviously still not succeeded on his ten-year plan to make Elia fall for him.</p><p>He woke up overheated and with Addam's breath on his face, like they had half the time in college minus the teenage experimentation, and dragged himself out for some coffee. Elia, angel that she was, already had it brewing.</p><p>There was a reason he loved his friends and it was usually caffeine.</p><p>"Don't be an idiot, Jaime," she said at some point in the morning. "Take a risk, talk to that woman, the worst she can say is no."</p><p>…</p><p>Jaime didn't follow Elia's advice the next day, if only because he didn't get to go to the garden. </p><p>Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Jaime was called to court on Monday. He spent there most of the morning, covering for Cersei who was indisposed and unable to attend. He cursed all the way there, his paralegal Peck driving the car while Jaime read on the notes for the case and cursed his sister for some extra measure. It wasn't the first time he had to cover for her on a Monday morning, and he knew that her stomach bug was a plain killer hangover. Cersei hadn't met a bottle of Dornish red she wouldn't demolish, usually in the company of other bottles of the same vintage.</p><p>He got back home that night exhausted, angry and in a bad enough mood to draft his resignation letter. He didn't send it or print it, but it made him feel better to have it saved in his personal folder. He also did a quick search for other firms and who was hiring. </p><p>It looked like Stark &amp; Reed was planning to open an office in King's Landing and were already hunting for talent. He felt reckless enough to send them an email, not that he believed the Starks would give him the time of day, but imagining Tywin's face if he went to work for them was enough to bring a smile to his face.</p><p>The next day he was back in the garden.</p><p>He had almost not gone, not because he didn't need the peace and quiet, he did. Cersei was back at work and she had things to say about how he'd handled the previous day's case, irritated that he had brought up some things she missed and still blaming him for it. Nothing new. Still, the day had awakened hot and humid and muggy, and it was obvious there was going to be a storm. He wouldn't have risked it, except it felt a bit like he was avoiding it and he wouldn't hear the end of it from Elia and Addam if he didn't at least try. </p><p>She wasn't there, though the bench on the shade wasn't empty either. In one corner of the bench was a book, still open and face down with the spine bent and some dog eared pages. Jaime picked up and closed it carefully, applying some pressure on the cover to prevent the pages from opening again. </p><p>It was an old, battered copy of <em>Honour and Oaths</em>, Jaime's favourite novel. He smiled when he saw it, what were the odds? He had a copy as well-loved as this one, and also a rare first edition which was one of his treasures. Not many people knew about this park, chances were this belonged to Blue eyes, or at least Jaime hoped so. If he was right, he could just wait here for her to come back give it back.</p><p>He opened it on the dedication page. There, written on pen over the standard dedication, was a personal one.</p><p>
  <em>'My dear Brienne, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>I hope this book brings you as much happiness as it always did your mom, and that you will also find it one day with the right person. Now you don't have to steal it from my bookcase. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Love, </em>
</p><p><em>Dad.</em>'</p><p>He ran his fingers over the words, a bit jealous at the obvious affection in them. This was definitely not a book one just left lying around, this was a precious gift. Brienne would come looking for it. </p><p>He skimmed to the first page started to read, it had been a couple of years since the last time and he didn't have anything better to do while he waited, better to lose himself in the path from oathbreaker to oathkeeper the Kingslayer had taken a thousand years ago than keep thinking about his own problems. </p><p>In the distance, lightning crashed and he startled and looked up at the sky. It had turned dark grey, the kind of dark that meant a storm was imminent, a drop of cold water falling on Jaime's face. </p><p>He stood from the bench and carefully put the book away. It was time to leave.</p><p>He looked around but there was still no sign of her. </p><p>Another drop splashed him, and another one right after, then he was running down the path as the skies opened, cold sheets of rain falling on him and drenching him in under a minute. </p><p>He made sure to keep the book safe under his jacket, he would hate to return it ruined by the rain when she came back for it the next day. Or the day after </p><p>She didn't.</p><p>...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Brienne didn't realize she had forgotten her book until she'd already boarded the train to Winterfell. </p>
<p>She looked for it inside her handbag, and when that didn't produce anything, she grabbed her small suitcase and opened it there in the middle of the train, completely uncaring of the curious looks the rest of the passengers were sending her. She must look frantic and panicked to them, that was exactly how she felt. </p>
<p>She was going through her suitcase though she knew it was already futile, searching every inch of it as if the book would reveal itself to be hiding under her dirty underwear, and the longer it didn't appear the faster her breathing became. Her eyes were stinging, her chest constricted with a terrible weight, Brienne grabbed her handbag and turned it upside down over her opened suitcase, letting the contents rain on it. </p>
<p>It wasn't there, she'd already known that. </p>
<p>With an effort, she pressed her lips together and swallowed harshly, tasting the salt of her unshed tears in the back of her throat. She started packing things up methodically, first the contents of her handbag and then the suitcase, where she just pressed everything inside and closed it, putting it back on the overhead compartment. All the time she had an image of putting the book down on the bench in the little garden where she had been eating her lunch when her mobile rang. She had picked up the call, looking around to make sure the blond man wasn't there when she saw the caller ID, and spent the next ten minutes giving Cat her report on the new offices and telling her she would be back at work in the morning. </p>
<p>Brienne had looked up at the sky and seen the dark clouds amassing, had decided to head to the train station early to avoid the rain even if it meant she wouldn't get a last look at the handsome stranger. </p>
<p>That was where her memory failed her, she didn't know whether she'd picked up the book again or had left it there, forgotten under the tree in the beautiful little park she had found. Except she did know; the book wasn't with her, it couldn't be anywhere else. And now it was gone.</p>
<p>She looked out of the window at the pouring rain and tried not to cry. </p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Tormund was in her house when she arrived and Brienne had to bite back a sigh. She'd asked him not to when she texted him she was coming back, but as always he didn't listen. </p>
<p>"You've been gone two weeks," he'd said in his message. "I'll welcome you home the way you like."</p>
<p>The way <em>he</em> liked, what she wanted was to sleep for the next twelve hours with her cat curled at her feet purring up a storm, not to have to fend off his persistent advances and his refusal to take no for an answer. Still, she gave him an exhausted half-smile and a peck on the lips when she got in her house and saw him waiting for her by the entrance, he had done her the favour of feeding her cat, and nobody had ever been this happy to see her. She immediately regretted it when Tormund didn't let her pull back, grabbing her in a tight hug and deepening the kiss. Brienne allowed it for a second before putting her hands on his chest and pushing him away.</p>
<p>"I've missed you," Tormund said with a heated look. </p>
<p>Brienne wished she could say the same, but the truth was she had been almost relieved to get away from his overwhelming presence for a few days. </p>
<p>"I am exhausted, Tormund," she said, moving to the living room to crouch and greet her cat. <em>Him, she had missed</em>.</p>
<p>She felt bad for her coldness towards him; Tormund was a nice guy, he was attractive in a wild sort of way, and he looked at Brienne as if he couldn't get enough of her. He wasn't the best at getting hints, though, and yes, it had been fun at the beginning, but Brienne had known it wasn't a serious thing and she had told him repeatedly. It couldn't be serious, they had nothing in common except for physical attraction, and Brienne was already planning to move to King's Landing when they had started sleeping together six months ago. Brienne hadn't been looking for a relationship and had been upfront with him, he had already picked the names for their children.</p>
<p>"I will give you a massage, if you want," Tormund said with a salacious grin, proving he never listened.</p>
<p>"Not tonight, I just want to sleep." </p>
<p>She was more than tired tonight, she was heartsore but didn't know how to explain why. That book had been a present from her father when Brienne was a little over twelve and he'd caught her sneaking away from his room with her mother's copy in her hands. He had scolded her for coming into his rooms without permission and taking something for there, his big brown eyes stern and disappointed. A few days later, he had gifted her that copy and written a dedication just for her. </p>
<p>She had loved it, had read it so many times. She had taken solace in its dogeared pages and the familiar words when her father had passed away, reading and re-reading his dedication when she needed to hear his voice in her head and feel close to him. </p>
<p>Brienne went into the shower to wash the smell of the train off her skin and to let the hot water relax her, she startled when the shower door opened and Tormund stepped inside the small shower and encircled her waist with his arms. </p>
<p>She ground her teeth in anger. "I've told you I'm tired."</p>
<p>"I'll help you relax," he insisted, pressing his naked body against hers, his cock half hard and insistent against her backside. </p>
<p>Brienne shut down the hot water and let a freezing stream hit them before shutting that one as well.  She had braced for it, Tormund yelped and jumped backwards, glaring at her.</p>
<p>Brienne glared back. "I want to sleep, not fool around. I've told you three times already. If you're not going to let me do that, please go to your own place."</p>
<p>She walked past him and grabbed a towel to dry herself, finding her warmest and most comfortable pyjamas. She was already in bed with her eyes closed when Tormund slipped inside next to her, he pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek as an apology and curled around her back, his breathing tickling her ear until she fell asleep. </p>
<p>…</p>
<p>She was in the office earlier than she would have liked but sleep had been fitful and she had given up at six, getting up to make herself a coffee. Tormund was still snoring away in her bed but that was a problem for another day, though '<em>another day</em>' was approaching fast.</p>
<p>She wasn't surprised to find Cat's office door open and the light on when she arrived, it was just past half seven and there was nobody else in the office. Brienne knocked on the doorframe. </p>
<p>"Morning, Cat," she greeted her boss. </p>
<p>Catelyn Stark looked up from her computer, a puzzled frown on her face easing into a smile when she saw Brienne. "Brienne. You're up early, wasn't expecting you until ten at least." </p>
<p>Brienne shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."</p>
<p>Cat pointed at the chair in front of her and Brienne came into the office, closing the door after her and placing a cup of coffee on Cat's desk. She took it with a grateful look and sighed at the first sip. "How was King's Landing?"</p>
<p>King's Landing had been busy and chaotic and fast-paced, and oh so warm. That was what Brienne had been missing the most since she came to Winterfell, the warmth and the feeling of the sea breeze on her face. Not the frigid polar one from the North that cut her skin, she had missed the fragrant breeze of the narrow sea and walking around in just a sundress feeling the heat of the sun on her skin. She loved Winterfell, she wasn't going to say she didn't, and she loved her job and her friends here, but she couldn't wait to move to King's Landing.</p>
<p>"The main offices are already furnished and just waiting for all the equipment to be delivered," Brienne said, that was what she had spent most of the time over there doing. making sure the logistics for the office were what they had agreed and that everything was ready for them to open in the following couple of months. She had also been interviewing for administrative and front of office positions. They had agreed Cat would be in charge of hiring new lawyers, though Brienne would help her decide, but the office needed staffing and Brienne had not minded supervising the operation. She was going to be the senior partner in King's Landing, after all. </p>
<p>"Good, we can leave the logistics with the local people for now," Cat said, taking some folders from the desk and passing them to Brienne. "We haven't even started and there are already cases coming in. I want you to get started on those, as you're going to be the primary once the office is established. Unless you've changed your mind about it and want to stay here."</p>
<p>"I've already signed the lease for an apartment in King's Landing," she said, regret colouring her voice. </p>
<p>Cat nodded, she had not really expected otherwise. "You'll always have a home here."</p>
<p>Brienne knew and felt the warmth spreading inside of her at that simple statement. "I know."</p>
<p>She had been working for Stark &amp; Reed for the past few years since she came north after her father's death, and in that time they had become the family she missed so much. She had run away from Tarth and the memories attached to every inch of the island, had run as far as she could go in an effort to not be choked by her own ghosts, alone and friendless she had jumped at the chance of a new beginning. It had not been far enough, though, her grief had travelled with her and she had felt as lonely in the frozen wasteland of Winterfell those first few months as she had in the balmy beaches of Tarth. </p>
<p>She had focused on her job, the only thing she had, and somehow caught Cat's eye. She had been so embarrassed the first time Cat had called her into her office, had wondered whether she had messed something up and was about to be fired. Instead, Cat had some takeout boxes on her desk and had removed her jacket and rolled up her sleeves, a napkin incongruously tucked on the collar of her shirt. </p>
<p>"I recommend you do the same," she had said pointing at the chair in front of her desk with a look at Brienne's white shirt. "I don't know what they put in this sauce but if you get a drop on a white shirt that's it. Worth it, though."</p>
<p>Brienne had been too stunned to do anything but obey, taking her proffered seat and mirroring Cat's precautions. "Was there anything you wanted to discuss, Ms Stark?" </p>
<p>"You've been here for three months already, haven't you?" Cat had asked between bites. She nodded. "I don't mean to pry, but what do you do after work?"</p>
<p>She went home and read or watched something on TV. She had always liked to walk but had not counted on the snow and the cold, so she just went home and made herself something simple and waited for the night to pass so she could be at work again. The weekends were the worst, she had considered adopting a cat just so she could have someone to talk to, even if they didn't talk back.</p>
<p>"I thought so," Cat had said when Brienne didn't answer. "Ned knew your father, he was the one who chose you for the position saying that someone raised by Selwyn Tarth would have the kind of morals we look for. He also knew of his passing." Brienne had swallowed past the lump in her throat at her words. "I know it feels strange to be invited by your boss, but why don't you come for dinner this Saturday? I promise we don't bite, though my children might."</p>
<p>Brienne had considered refusing but in the end, faced with another day alone with her grief, she had gone. She was glad now, that had been the moment she had been adopted into the Starks, and as unused she was to a family as boisterous and big as that one, she had carved her own place there. </p>
<p>She was definitely going to miss them. Most of them, Arya had just been admitted into KLU and had already told Brienne to get a room for her in her new apartment. </p>
<p>"You really don't look good today, are you sure you don't want to take the day?" Cat said, startling her out of her thoughts. </p>
<p>"I lost something important," she said, and Cat's expression softened minutely. "There's this little park close to the office, beautiful like the gardens in Evenfall where my father used to take me as a child. I forgot my book there." She didn't need to specify which, not to her.</p>
<p>Cat stood from her desk and gave her the kind of motherly hug Brienne still didn't know how to ask for, even after years of friendship. "Is there a chance of getting it back?"</p>
<p>Brienne shook her head. "There was a big storm, I doubt that even the Golden God would have gone that day."</p>
<p>"<em>The Golden God</em>?" Brienne's face flushed deep red, that was what she had named the man in her head because he looked like one, all golden curls and stubble, with perfect features and expensive suits tailored to a sculpted body. And those eyes, those deep green eyes that had been so intent on her she had felt them on her skin. She told Cat about him, trying to downplay how much her attention had made her hyperaware of him all the time. "Probably a Lannister, then. Careful with those." It wasn't the first time Cat had warned her against them, though it was unnecessary. Tywin's ruthless reputation followed him, and his children were said to be no better, not that Brienne had ever met them. She probably would, now that she was going to move to King's Landing. They would probably meet in court at some point. "Now that you remind me, I got an interesting email last night."</p>
<p>"Interesting how?"</p>
<p>"I'm not sure I trust this is not a trick, but I am curious enough to pursue it further." Cat sat on her chair and handed Brienne a printout of an email, one of the dozen they had received as an answer to their advertisement. "It looks like Jaime Lannister, the Young Lion himself, is looking to slip his leash."</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>The new offices looked much different now everything was in place and there were people already milling around, though they were still only at half capacity. </p>
<p>Brienne had been assigned one of the two big offices, the other would be taken by Cat or Howland, depending on who was available and working cases in KL, and she'd been shocked to see her name printed on the glass door. Stark, Reed &amp; Tarth.</p>
<p>"You are senior partner here," Cat has said when Brienne stared mutely at it. "Nobody is going to forget that."</p>
<p>There were also a couple of smaller offices for junior partners and the rest was pretty much open plan with a big kitchen at the back, outfitted with everything a modern office would need. Brienne knew she wouldn't use it much, not when the park was so close and the weather so lovely.  </p>
<p>"Why don't you go have your lunch?" Cat said when Brienne stood for the third time to walk to the window. It was Monday and she was restless, this would be around the perfect time to go to the park. </p>
<p>They had arrived a week ago after a month of planning, later than Brienne had hoped but at least she'd had time to leave her affairs in order. Since the moment they landed in KL, Brienne had been busy with the movers and furnishing her apartment and getting everything ready to live in the city. Cat had come down from Winterfell for the interviews, Brienne had sat in them as well when she had the time, and was staying at a hotel close to the office. </p>
<p>"The interview--"</p>
<p>"I'll interview Jaime Lannister," Cat cut her off before she could protest. "I prefer it this way, no matter what his emails said, I still don't trust him."</p>
<p>Brienne nodded and took the offered exit. Cat had been hesitating right until the last minute whether to give this Lannister a chance, they had exchanged several e-mails, the only one she had done that with, and in the end she had arranged the meeting on Friday. Brienne was very curious about him but today was the first time she would have time to go to the park. She knew it was gone, especially after a month had gone by, but she couldn't not go and check. It was just the book, it wasn't the man she also was curious to see if he was still there. </p>
<p>She was so absorbed in her own thoughts she all but collided against someone rushing out of the park, Brienne stumbled back a step and reflexively grabbed onto the person in front of her. She noticed the fine weave of the cloth under her hands and the strength in the arms before she looked up and saw the green eyes and golden curls. </p>
<p>"Watch where--oh," the first words had been harsh but the tone softened immediately, the green eyes widening when he took her in. "It's you. <em>You're back</em>." Brienne floundered at his tone and expression, and at the fact that he had recognized her and remembered her. "Brienne?" he asked. She took a step back, how did he know her name? An alarm beeped insistently and he looked annoyed at his mobile. "Damn it, I'm going to be late."</p>
<p>"How do you know my name?" Brienne asked, suspicious. </p>
<p>The man shook his head. "I wasn't sure, I hoped the book was yours. I have to run now or I'll be even later." He stepped away in the direction she had come from, obviously in a hurry. </p>
<p>It was looking at his retreating back what spurred Brienne into movement again. "Wait, what do you mean?"</p>
<p>He looked at her. "Come for lunch tomorrow at one, I'll bring your book." </p>
<p> He disappeared around the corner, Brienne wanted to run after him and shake him until he explained everything or the book fell off his person. She didn't, instead, she walked inside the garden and let the smell of the flowers and the sound of the birds calm her. She went to the bench under the shadow of the tree where she had left her treasure, and where she would get it back the next day.</p>
<p>...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Did you get the job?"</p>
<p>Jaime looked at the first message of the ten Elia and Addam had sent him during the hour he'd had his phone off. </p>
<p>He walked out of the lift in Stark, Reed &amp; Tarth's offices, Catelyn Stark's voice still fresh in his head. "You would be directly reporting to Ms Tarth, is that going to be a problem?" She had asked, blunt and slightly aggressive. It was the most emotion she had displayed during the entire interview if he didn't count her obvious mistrust.</p>
<p>"I don't know Ms Tarth, why would I have a problem with her?"</p>
<p>Catelyn gave him a considering look. "Many men have problems reporting to a woman."</p>
<p>Jaime kept himself from rolling his eyes with an effort. "You are a woman, if I had an issue with your gender I'd have gone to any of the other firms."</p>
<p>She inclined her head minutely. "Fair enough. You won't have your name on the door here," she added.</p>
<p>"And if that was what I wanted, I'd stay at Lannister &amp; Lannister," he said, unable to completely keep the sneer off his face.</p>
<p>There had been other questions, mainly about his qualifications and expectations if he was to join their firm. They were unnecessary, his qualifications had been plastered all over the news for days with the closure of the Baelish case, though they might work against him on any decent firm. He'd been having extra long showers to wash the filth off him after he'd obtained a favourable verdict for the scum. Jaime had tried to get away with doing the bare minimum, had hoped to lose, but Tywin had been breathing over his shoulder the entire time, not allowing him any room manoeuvre or any misstep along the way. </p>
<p>On the other hand, his expectations were very simple.</p>
<p>"I won't take the kind of cases that make their way to my father's firm and I want to take pro-bono cases," he said, relishing Catelyn's surprised expression. </p>
<p>By the time she had shaken his had and walked with him to the lift, he knew she was going to offer him the job, which she did before the lift arrived. </p>
<p>Today had turned out to be a lucky day after a month of very unlucky ones, he smiled remembering the other good thing to happen today. She was back, blue eyes, Brienne, was back, and he would be meeting her tomorrow. He had resigned himself to not seeing her again, not after being absent for an entire month, and had cursed himself for the lost chance at talking to her and maybe getting her phone number before she disappeared. </p>
<p>But she was back now, still as tall and with the same imperfect features. And her eyes were still as blue and beautiful as he remembered.</p>
<p>He couldn't wait for the next day to arrive.</p>
<p>"I did, drinks after work in the usual place?" He texted back on their group chat. They replied with their agreement. "Have more news, but now I have to give my resignation to Tywin." The letter of resignation that had been living in his private cloud for over a month, the one he opened and read every time he had a new email from Catelyn Stark with more questions instead of date for the interview, every time his father demanded progress in the case he despised or assigned him others as despicable to follow, every time his sister criticized him for whatever slights, real or imaginary, he had committed against her that day. The letter, the possibility of leaving, had become as much his comfort as the book sitting on the shelf in his house, an object he had convinced himself belonged to Blue eyes. He was glad to be right. "If I'm not at the Twin Swords at six, please send a search party."</p>
<p>"I'll go myself with a forensic team to retrieve your body," Addam texted back, asshole that he was.</p>
<p>"And I'll sing at your funeral," Elia added. </p>
<p>Jaime laughed the rest of the way to his office, though he wasn't one hundred per cent sure he'd survive the encounter. He printed the letter, switched off his computer and looked around his office. It was beautifully furnished and highly impersonal, and though he'd been there for years there wasn't anything that made it his. There was only one photograph, a simple silver frame and a picture of Jaime and his very pregnant mother, his head pressed to his bulging belly, eyes closed, and an expression of wonder on his childish face. He grabbed it and put it in his pocket, just in case.</p>
<p>He wouldn't put it past his father to not let him return for his belonging, this was the only one he cared about.</p>
<p>It turned out to be a good idea.</p>
<p>"I see," his father said when Jaime entered his office after waiting fifteen minutes to be received, one of Tywin's favourite techniques when trying to impress on people how not important they were. Jaime had given him his letter mutely, his heart on his throat and his jaw set, and awaited the explosion. </p>
<p>There wasn't one; of course, when Tywin was at his most furious he went cold, never hot. He didn't speak to Jaime for a full minute, instead, Tywin picked up his phone and dialled a number. "This is Tywin Lannister, disable with immediate effect all accounts for Jaime Lannister, Josmyn Peckledon and Pia Rivers. Terminate their contracts and have them escorted out of the building immediately. Jaime Lannister is in my office." </p>
<p>"Peck and Pia have nothing to do with this," Jaime protested, though he should have expected something like that. "They are good at their jobs and have been in the company for years."</p>
<p>"Then I hope you are taking them with you to wherever you're going now, I have no place for traitors in my firm," Tywin replied, his eyes flat and cold on Jaime. "I'm not going to ask where or ask you to stay, you have half-assed all your work and complained for years because of your pedestrian sensibilities. You have been nothing but a disappointment, same as your brother, and like him, you will not receive anything from this family since you don't give anything." </p>
<p>Just because Jaime had been expecting that it didn't make it less hurtful hearing the words. "I'd change my name to mother's, but that won't make me less of a Lannister."</p>
<p>"It won't make you my son either." Tywin's expression turned frostier, if possible, lip curled in distaste. "Your contract specifies a three-month notice, if I see you've taken a case in this time I'll have your licence." The door behind him opened and Tywin signalled to the burly security guards that were surely there. "Get him out of here."</p>
<p>Jaime nodded once and turned on his heel, walking past the security guards and the crowd of onlookers that had suddenly appeared, his head held high and his fists clenched. Cersei was outside of her office staring at him with the same cold eyes as Tywin, the same lack of empathy. She really was Tywin's heir, as much as he hated that because of her gender. Jaime went straight to the car park and into his car, and drove out of there as if the Stranger himself was chasing him, considered going straight home, but if he did that it was to fall into a bottle and not come out for air. </p>
<p>And the day had been going so well. </p>
<p>He found a space on a parking garage two blocks down and left the car there, walking the short distance to the garden to sit for a while, fury churning in his gut. He should have known his father would attack his most vulnerable side, it was his favourite tactic. No, not his father, Tywin had told him he wasn't his son anymore and had looked at him as if he was a stranger, Jaime didn't owe anything to him, not even that title.</p>
<p>He sat down under the tree, looking up at the green leaves and the sun filtering through them, and took a few deep breaths, the usual calming nature of his little oasis failing him. His phone vibrated in his pocket, the first of many messages he didn't intend to read. When he felt he could speak again without screaming, he took the mobile out and dialled the number on the card Catelyn Stark had given him.</p>
<p>"Catelyn Stark," she replied, formal and composed.</p>
<p>"This is Jaime Lannister," he closed his eyes picturing Pia's sweet face and Peck's wide and worshipful eyes. He wanted the job at Stark's firm, if they were the kind of people he had thought, she would say yes. If not, maybe he would start his own firm, after all. "I need to add a new condition to the employment offer."</p>
<p>"Mr Lannister, I haven't even written your contract yet, isn't it too early to ask for concessions?"</p>
<p>"Tywin has fired my assistant and paralegal," he said, enunciating clearly so his voice didn't twist in a snarl the way it wanted. It must have come through anyway because there was a sharp intake of breath on the other side of the line. "I won't leave my team--"</p>
<p>"Send me their details," Catelyn said, not letting him finish. "I'll have a contract drawn up for them as well if they want it."</p>
<p>Jaime felt a weight falling off his shoulders. "Thank you, Catelyn."</p>
<p>"Not needed, we would have been looking for a full team for you, Lannister, this saves us time."</p>
<p>He called Peck after sending her their contact and explained what had happened. "Thank you, Mr Lannister," Peck said, his thin voice had regained some strength as they talked. "I didn't know what I did for you to be unhappy with us."</p>
<p>"I'm not, you and Pia have both been great," he almost choked on the reassurances. Damn Tywin.</p>
<p>"I'll go where you go, if you'll have us."</p>
<p>It warmed him inside, Peck's loyalty, and it made it easier to call Pia. She wasn't as calm as Peck, her voice clogged with tears, her sniffling loud on the phone, but she repeated the sentiment and sounded more upbeat when they finished their call. "I knew it couldn't have been you, Mr. Lannister."</p>
<p>Once he hung up the call, Jaime lied down on the bench and closed his eyes, breathing deeply and listening to the sounds around him, the little breeze and sun on his face. It was for the better, and it was done. </p>
<p>He still was going to get thoroughly drunk tonight.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Jaime couldn't remember how he'd got back home at night, the throbbing in his head and the feeling of something dead in his mouth attesting to the fact that he had got as drunk as he had intended. Drunker perhaps. He looked at the glass of water and couple of pills on his bedside table and sighed. Addam, then, Elia usually left him to suffer the hangover when he overindulged and got maudlin on them, and what little he could remember of the evening after they had arrived at the Twin Swords had been very maudlin, justified as it had been. </p>
<p>One didn't get disowned every day after all.</p>
<p>He stretched on his bed, squinting his eyes at the light coming through the half-closed curtains, and forced himself to get up from the bed. He checked the time on his mobile, ignoring the dozens on texts from Cersei, Kevan, Martyn and pretty much every single Lannister in existence. Thankfully no Genna and Tyrion, at least not yet, and he hoped for a different message when they contacted him. These ones were just a rehash of the previous afternoon's discussion with his father, just another litany of how much of a disappointment he was, how he was besmirching the Lannister name, how much of a traitor he was, a bleeding heart, and his favourite, a little girl. He deleted the messages and hesitated thinking whether to block them. He didn't want to turn his back on his family, they had done that to him. </p>
<p>It was barely past eight, later than he usually woke up but early enough he had plenty of time. He made himself a coffee and checked his emails, there were three from Catelyn with the employment offer, setting his start date three months from the previous day. He was also copied on the emails for Pia and Peck, they were more than fair in the conditions and had a salary increase of a five per cent over their previous one. There was another person included in those emails, B.Tarth, his new boss. He wondered what kind of woman she was, someone Catelyn Stark spoke so fondly of and who was in charge of a Stark office would probably follow Stark's morals. Definitely an improvement over Tywin.</p>
<p>Jaime wondered what Tywin was going to say when he knew where he was going, and whether he would care at all. He had always hated the Starks, considered them weak and soft because they chose their clients and refused anyone who was blatantly guilty, regardless of how much money they had. <em>Bleeding hearts</em>, Cersei had called them once, the worst insult she could think of. </p>
<p>He went through his morning routine and stressed for half an hour about what to wear, not that he would ever admit that to anyone. It wasn't a date, and he shouldn't feel so nervous about it, but it was the one good thing that could tip the scales into good humour after the previous day's unpleasantness. He grabbed the book on his way out and looked around, puzzled at not seeing his car until he remembered when he'd left it the day before. </p>
<p>He was back in the garden at noon, he had foregone the suit considering he didn't need to look <em>presentable for a client</em>. Also, Elia had always said the jeans made his ass and legs look good, that a tie was just a bother most of the time, and the heat was the perfect excuse to roll up his sleeves and show his arms. "Your good looks are wasted on you," she usually complained when he didn't follow her advice and appeared either with a suit or the same comfortable jeans and T-shirt.</p>
<p>This time he was doing as she said, not that Elia would ever know. </p>
<p>He sat in his usual bench and fidgeted with his mobile, not wanting to check his messages but unable to keep his hands still. He tried a game, but none could keep his attention, he kept looking up at the gate, hoping she'd come and he hadn't scared her blurting out her name like the creep Elia and Addam accused him of being. He checked he had the book with him for the twentieth time, and finally got it out and opened it on his favourite chapter, trying to lose himself in the words. He closed the book again after a few minutes, it would look bad if she arrived and he was pawing at it, wouldn't it?</p>
<p>After what felt like an eternity, just a bit over half an hour according to his mobile, the gate opened and Brienne came in. Jaime was about to stand from the bench, as if this was still the Targaryen era and she was a Lady, but reigned in the impulse. No need to appear too eager or more of a creep.</p>
<p>She faltered on her step when she saw him sitting on the bench, eyes moving straight to the closed book by his side. She hurried the last steps, her back straighter and a hint of a smile curling her big mouth. Smiling became her, or so Jaime thought, the shine in her eyes and the curve of her lips making her, if not pretty, remarkable. </p>
<p>"Sorry, you didn't specify a time," she apologized as soon as she stopped in front of him, her eyes moving from his side to him and then back again. "Have you been waiting long?"</p>
<p>Of course he hadn't, he had been too shocked by literally stumbling into her and in too much of a hurry to make real sense, he was lucky she had come at all. "Just a couple of minutes," he lied. "This is yours, I think."</p>
<p>Jaime passed her the book and she took it in her hands like it was something precious, immediately opening it on the dedication, her fingers moving gently over the scrawled words. The tension that had kept her shoulders taut vanished, and she didn't so much sit down on the place her book had been occupying as collapse onto it. Jaime sat down again, feeling the need to fidget with his mobile or his hands or just fill the silence. He was feeling awkward, something he would have not expected with how eager he had been to see her. </p>
<p>Brienne, on the other hand, appeared to have forgotten about his presence entirely. She was blinking rapidly when Jaime looked at her again, moisture on her lashes and large and crooked teeth worrying the flesh on her lower lip. </p>
<p>"I didn't think I'd get the change to return it," Jaime blurted when the silence became too much for him. </p>
<p>Her head snapped up and she stared at him with wide and wet eyes, a flush spreading over her cheeks and spilling down her neck. "I thought I had lost it, it rained so much that day." Her voice, now that Jaime was listening properly to her and not half running, was deep and a bit rough, the accent cultured and with some of the rounded vowels from the south. "I thought it would be ruined."</p>
<p>"It's my favourite book, you know? That's the reason I picked it up that day."</p>
<p>"Oh," she smiled at him, a tiny and tentative thing. "It's my favourite too. It was my mother's as well." She moved her hand over the cover gently, lovingly. </p>
<p>Jaime grasped for something to talk about, something to say. They were sitting very close together, not that he minded, but the flush had not disappeared from her face and he was just realizing he should have introduced himself to her a while ago, it would feel weird to do it now, wouldn't it? "So you're back in King's Landing for good?" he finally asked, she turned her eyes on him again.</p>
<p>"Yes, I just started a new job a couple of blocks from here. Do you work in the area?" She asked, stilted and formal and endearingly awkward. </p>
<p>"Not right now, I'm between jobs." Jaime's mouth twisted at the reminder of the previous day's unpleasantness. She looked at his attire, obviously not work clothes, at the opened buttons on his throat and the rolled-up sleeves, her flush deeper and her mouth parting slightly. Jaime was gratified to see that reaction, it meant she at least liked what she saw. Jaime knew what he looked like, didn't need Elia's curses or Addam's good-natured ribbing to know he was attractive, but that was never a guarantee, especially when it was something he wanted. </p>
<p>Fate had a way of fucking with him when he really wanted something. </p>
<p>"That means you came today just to bring me this. Thank you, I'll let you get back to your life." She stood up to leave and Jaime sprang to his feet next to her. </p>
<p>"Are you in a hurry? I thought we could get some lunch since we're already here." <em>Smooth, Jaime, very smooth</em>. He bit down on a sigh.</p>
<p>"Lunch?" she asked, not bothering to hide her shock.</p>
<p>"There are a few take out places around that are very good, do you like Mereneese? They have a great selection, it's just five minutes from here and we can come back and eat under the tree," he was babbling and could feel his face heating up. Addam was going to choke laughing when he heard. </p>
<p>"You want to have lunch with me," Brienne interrupted him, enunciating clearly as if trying the words. He closed his mouth gratefully. "Why?"</p>
<p>Jaime shrugged, unable to put into words that from the moment he saw her he had liked her. It wasn't love at first sight, he wasn't enough of a romantic to believe in that, but he found something in her compelling and wanted to know more of her. "You have good taste in books and beautiful eyes."</p>
<p>She tilted her head, considering. "I don't even know your name."</p>
<p>"Jaime, my name is Jaime."</p>
<p>"Oh," she said, as if that wasn't the answer she had been expecting and didn't quite like it but he didn't know why. "<em>Lannister</em>?" </p>
<p>He certainly had the looks, and they were famous enough in some circles Brienne might have heard of them. Though he wasn't, not anymore. "Just on my mother's side," he replied, his voice bitter. Tywin told him the name didn't make him his son, Jaime wasn't going to claim him as family either. </p>
<p>That was the right answer, for whatever reason. "I'd like to try some of that Mereneese, Jaime."</p>
<p>...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Did I spend some time searching which real world country would be the equivalent of Mereen? Why, yes, yes I did. Apparently it would be Turkey. Did I then spend time searching for Turkish street food? Of course I did. did I make myself hungry during research? You bet.</p>
<p>In case this gets confusing, Garden leave in the UK is when you hand your notice and are told to stay at home serving it. You're still paid for those months, but you don't work. It's usually done on senior management, and it's done to ensure they don't take company data or resources with them when they leave. I think it's called Administrative leave in the US, not sure if it's a common practice elsewhere.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Brienne pressed her hand against the pocket where she'd put the book for the third time since they left the little park, feeling it there, needing the reassurance that she hadn't lost it again. </p>
<p>Once she was back home, she wasn't taking it out of the shelf ever again.</p>
<p>She followed Jaime in silence to the place he had recommended, darting quick looks at him as he walked by her side. She was regretting the impulse that had made her say yes faced with the sustained silence; she had been incapable of thinking about one thing to say to him, was feeling very conscious of his presence by her side and the way his eyes flicked to her every few steps as if to make sure she was still there. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, grasping for something to say and faced with the same void as Brienne where words used to be. </p>
<p>It made no sense to her; men, especially men like Jaime, didn't feel awkward around Brienne the way they did with Sansa or Cat or even Arya, they dismissed Brienne or saw her as one of the boys. Occasionally there would be one like Tormund, who would physically desire her but wasn't looking for anything deep. She wasn't used to these kinds of looks directed at her, didn't know how to react to them or how to stop blushing.  </p>
<p>They arrived at the Mereneese place before Brienne had been able to think of something to say, still wondering whether this had been a good idea. </p>
<p>Gods but she was bad at this, whatever this was. A beautiful man had asked her out for lunch and she was unable to string two sentences together, was considering saying she wasn't hungry or just <em>'remember'</em> an urgent meeting so she could escape the tension between them. </p>
<p>She took her mobile out of her pocket. </p>
<p>"I love their Golzeme, but I also recommend their Tantuni if you can stand the heat," Jaime said staring at the menu before Brienne could say anything, sounding relieved to have something to say, "and of course Simit is the easiest to eat in the park." He turned to look at her fully, his mouth twisted wryly. "If you still want to come with me after I treated you to the longest five minutes of silence on the way here. I swear I'm normally a good conversationalist." </p>
<p>It was his expression, rueful and a bit chagrined, that made her put the mobile away. "Tantuni looks good."</p>
<p>He smiled at her, some tightness that had crept onto his shoulders easing, turned to order, and paid for the two of them before Brienne could even get her wallet out. </p>
<p>"This place is good but of course nothing compared to the place in Mereen where I had Tantuni for the first time," he began talking on the way back to the park, the bag of food hanging from his hand. "I was there with my friends a few years ago and we found this tiny little hole in the wall owned by the meanest old lady in the world. Addam thought to challenge Elia to eat the spiciest dish in the menu, not a smart move because Elia is Dornish and Addam is a just Westerlander crybaby who can't eat chilli. I can swear the old woman took a look at them and decided to fuck with him because I have never seen anyone go so red in the face at the first forkful of food--" </p>
<p>It was obvious that Jaime had latched on the first viable subject trying to dispel the previous awkwardness, and it was working. He was a surprisingly entertaining storyteller once he got going, his descriptions of his friend's reaction and the old woman's cackle had Brienne finally relaxing as she took a bit of her food, the flavours bursting on her tongue and making her almost moan, her face flaming at the noise. Jaime faltered for a beat at that, though he recovered quickly and continued with his tale while Brienne ate. </p>
<p>"I have never been to Essos," Brienne admitted when he fell silent, a wistful note in her voice. "We had planned to sail through the narrow sea and do a tour of some of the countries there, my dad and I, but--" she pressed her hand to her pocket again, a gesture Jaime didn't miss, her chest constricting at the memories. It had been years since then, since the time she had found her father was ill and they were never going to, sometimes she still got suddenly assaulted by memories and the lingering grief that never seemed to go away, that had carved out a piece of her chest and made a nest in there.  </p>
<p>"Do you know how to sail?" he asked, voice soft, directing her attention somewhere else.</p>
<p>"Of course, I grew up on an island." She had spent as much time in boats growing up as she had in land, her father's big and warm hands always close to keep her safe. "What about you?"</p>
<p>He shook his head. "I grew up in the city, no sailing for me. Elia tried to get me on one a year we went to her family's house in Dorne to spend the summer. Most miserable hour of my life, I didn't know human skin could turn that shade of green."</p>
<p>They kept talking under the cool shade of the tree, the warm and fragrant air of the park making it feel like they were in a different world, not in the middle of King's Landing. Jaime never asked direct or prying questions about Brienne and her family, and the few comments he had made about his made Brienne steer away from the subject as well. He talked about his friends with clear fondness in his voice and expression, the same way Brienne did about Sansa or Robb, about the people who were family by choice. Jaime also had a little brother, though they didn't seem to be close. He was the only family he had, Jaime had let slip, him and one aunt, and there was a clear hurt in his voice when he had said it that meant it was recent grief. Brienne knew not to prod. </p>
<p>Her mobile vibrated in her pocket and she took it out, alarmed to realize she had been there for an hour and a half and Cat was calling her. She had a meeting in five minutes, she was going to be late.</p>
<p>"I'm on my way," she said as soon as the call connected. She stood from the bench and looked at Jaime, realizing she didn't know what to say or how to leave. "Sorry to run away like this, I'm late."</p>
<p>She had enjoyed their lunch, once they were past the uncomfortable first few minutes, and would want more but didn't know how to ask for it. </p>
<p>"That's fine." Jaime stood from the bench and walked to the gate with her. "Tomorrow same time?" </p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Brienne checked the time on her mobile for the third time in the past five minutes, not entirely surprised to find out that no, the flow of time had not ground to a halt as her client droned on and on and on, and she was going to be very late for lunch. She should be paying more attention but it was the third meeting with this client in a week and there had been no significant changes in his case during the past day and a half. She chastised herself for both her uncharitable thoughts about her client and her eagerness to leave, it wasn't enough to keep her from looking at her mobile for the fourth time. </p>
<p>Outside of her office, her new assistant saw her gesture and came to knock on her door. </p>
<p>"Apologies Miss Tarth, your one o'clock called to say they're running late but will be here in a few minutes, do you want me to show them to one of the meeting rooms while you finish with your current appointment?"</p>
<p>Her client startled mid-rant and looked at his own phone to check the time, eyes widening when he saw it was well past the hour he had allotted, not that Brienne intended to charge him the extra time, she wasn't that kind of lawyer. "I didn't notice the time, I have to go. Thanks for your time, Miss Tarth."</p>
<p>Brienne stood up as well and shook his hand with a smile. "Don't worry about anything, Mr. Seaworth, we'll take care of it and let you know if we need anything else from you."</p>
<p>He left with a smile and Brienne waited until the doors of the lift had closed to grab her bag and head out as well. "Thanks, Pod," she said, making a mental note to bring him something back to show her gratitude. He liked sweets, didn't he?</p>
<p>Brienne had been a bit dubious when Cat informed her she had hired three other people from Lannister &amp; Lannister, not just Jaime Lannister. Pia and Josmyn, '<em>call me Peck</em>', had come into the office the day after being fired by Tywin Lannister almost dragging Podrick with them. </p>
<p>"He gave his resignation in solidarity with us and because he likes Mr Lannister," Peck had said, looking sheepish but determined. "We thought you might give him a chance as you did with us." </p>
<p>Peck had been right, Cat had given him a chance and Pod had turned out to be a good assistant for Brienne, though he was painfully shy and tended to stutter a bit when he was nervous. "He could barely get a word straight with Tywin Lannister around," Peck had said, his voice fearful at the mention of his previous boss, the fact that he didn't give him the honorific not lost on Brienne. "So they kept him in the archive, but he can do more than that."</p>
<p>It had been a good call, and after the first day with Brienne Pod had relaxed enough for speech. She wondered what kind of person Tywin Lannister was to make someone like Pod so nervous as to be unable to speak, and what kind of person fired his own son's team out of spite for him leaving. She also wondered at his son, the one that was going to be working for her soon, and didn't want to admit she was almost petrified at the prospect. She had never managed other people and getting someone with so much experience just out of the door was going to be nerve-wracking, somehow she had not thought Cat would go through with it when she kept dithering about giving him a chance.</p>
<p>"He surprised me," Cat had confided her that day after Brienne returned from the garden practically floating in relief after bumping into Jaime. "He made it a condition to take pro-bono cases and said he'll refuse the kind his family's firm takes."</p>
<p>It had been even more surprising when Cat appeared by her office's door that afternoon. "Lannister just called demanding a new clause on his contract," she had said, her voice shocked, and Brienne had almost rolled her eyes thinking he'd started soon enough. "He's asked me to hire his team, Tywin has fired them in retaliation."</p>
<p>"And you've said yes." Because she wouldn't be Cat if she had said no.  </p>
<p>Cat shrugged. "He wouldn't have come on board without them, that is the kind of loyalty I like."</p>
<p>Brienne had deferred to her expertise and instinct; she didn't know the man beyond his reputation but his choice of team and his loyalty to them said good things about him. And theirs to him. </p>
<p>She forced herself to stop thinking about Lannister and work as she rushed through the few streets separating her from the park, where she already knew Jaime would be waiting for her. It was the fourth time they had lunch together that week, and Brienne had been looking forward to it since the moment she'd had to go back to work the day before, these lunches had become the highlight of her day.</p>
<p>It was ridiculous, she knew it. They barely knew each other, it should be too early for Brienne to have a crush this intense, for the flock of butterflies in her stomach at the sight of him reading while he waited sitting on their bench, and it should be too early for her to consider it <em>their</em> bench, for the way her heart tripped all over itself at his smile when he saw her and the crinkles around his eyes. That didn't stop her feeling them, or thinking about him and their conversations almost constantly to the point Cat had started to give her pointed looks when Brienne got distracted in their meetings. </p>
<p>"I'm sorry, my meeting overran," she said skidding to a halt in front of him when she reached the bench. She was twenty minutes late because it was her turn to get food and they hadn't exchanged phone numbers yet. </p>
<p>She should have asked the first day, but neither of them did, and she didn't know how to ask for it now. </p>
<p>"No worries," he said, folding one of the pages of the book he was reading to mark the page. "I don't mind waiting, not here." He looked up at her, a glint of mischief in his eyes. "<em>I'm on garden leave</em>, after all."</p>
<p>She stared at him, aghast, as saw the corners of his mouth curl up into a big grin and one of his eyebrows arch up and couldn't stop herself. She started shaking with laughter, the big braying sounds she hated and always tried to contain falling from her mouth unchecked. She sat down, still staring at him with the same incredulous expression looks at his frankly appalling puns. She had noticed before his sense of humour veered to the silly sometimes, but this had just caught her by surprise, not so much what he had said but the way he had said it, the expression on his face waiting for her reaction. </p>
<p>He was now staring at her with huge eyes and the widest grin, his eyes crinkled at the corners as he chuckled, amused at her laughter. There was nothing of the shock or disgust she had seen in her old nanny, or even the boys at school who compared her with a donkey when she laughed. His only reaction was to laugh with her, not at her, staring at Brienne with the kind of look Ned had for Cat when she did, well, anything at all. </p>
<p>The kind of look she had never expected to see directed at her, not really. </p>
<p>Oh. The butterflies in Brienne's stomach took flight at the same time, leaving her faint headed enough she had to sit down, dropping gracelessly on the bench close enough she could feel his heat next to her raising goosebumps on her skin. She wanted to press against it, to feel the vibrations of his laughter on her skin and taste the mirth straight from his mouth. <em>Oh</em>. </p>
<p>Her first impulse was to run away, go back to the office and then take the first train back to Winterfell and hide for however many years she needed again. That would be safe, yes, because her experience told her romantic entanglements, for her, never ended well. </p>
<p>It would be unfair, though. Not just to him, it would be unfair to herself to let fear rob her of this opportunity she had never imagined she could have before.</p>
<p>"That was so bad, Jaime." She shook her head, still smiling, and handed him one of the containers of food in her hand. Their hands brushed and Brienne could feel her face heating up.</p>
<p>"But I made you laugh," he pointed out, sounding as proud as if that was his greatest achievement.</p>
<p>"You did." </p>
<p>He would do it again, she knew, and Brienne remembered being a child and asking her father why none of his girlfriends ever stayed, not sure what his answer meant. "They don't make me laugh, not like your mom did." </p>
<p>She understood now.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>"Before you leave, Brienne," Cat stopped her on the way out of her office after their meeting. She checked the time as surreptitiously as she could, though Cat's amused look told her she had failed. She still had a bit of time before lunch, she noticed relieved. It was Monday and she had not seen Jaime for two days, two long days of thinking about nothing but him and the revelations of their last lunch together. "Jaime Lannister's going to stop over to bring some documentation I requested, he said he was in the area. He's going to stop by your office to introduce himself."</p>
<p>"Did he say when?" Brienne asked, not that she wasn't curious about Lannister and didn't want to meet him, but she really hoped it didn't take too much of her time.</p>
<p>"He might already be here, I got his message some minutes ago."</p>
<p>"I'll got meet him then." Thinking about Lannister made her think about her Jaime, not that she had been able to think about anything but Jaime since their last lunch, still confused as to how she had managed to fall so quick and so deep for someone. </p>
<p>Brienne would have thought it impossible or would have chalked it to lust before. Jaime was gorgeous, there was no denying that, she had noticed before she even knew his name, when she had seen him wearing expensive suits and they had not spoken. Any woman with eyes would be happy to peel that man out of his suits and take him to bed. But that wasn't the man she couldn't stop thinking about. The Jaime she liked was the one with tousled hair and half-buttoned shirts, the one who always looked rumpled and real, and ate messy spicy food that sometimes dripped everywhere. The one who made silly puns and had laugh lines around his eyes and mouth and talked softly about his friends and sometimes looked at her like he didn't believe she was real either.</p>
<p>And she could spend time with him after she'd met Lannister.</p>
<p>Brienne headed to her own office at a fast clip, wondering once again why they had chosen to place the offices for the partners on separate corners of the floor, bracketing the meeting rooms. It had made sense at the time, she was sure, though she now found it annoying that she couldn't just have Cat on the other side of a wall. </p>
<p>She heard the voices outside her office before she saw the cluster of people around Pod's desk. Lannister had arrived, obviously. Pia and Peck were there with Pod, all three of them staring with adoration at a man with hair as golden as Jaime's and wearing an expensive suit. He was as tall as Brienne, broad shoulders filling his jacket perfectly, and he had one of Pia's hands between hers. </p>
<p>"I'm glad you guys like it here, I think I will as well," he said, and Brienne ground to halt right before she reached them. She knew that voice. "And that you brought Pod, sorry I didn't think of you."</p>
<p>"I-it's fine, Mr. Lannister," Pod said with a bit of an embarrassed stutter. </p>
<p>"Just Jaime," he said, and Brienne's breath got stuck on her throat, her heart galloping in her chest. No, it couldn't be Jaime, he'd had said he wasn't a Lannister, that he didn't have any living family except for a brother. "I'm no longer a Lannister, I've been disowned, remember?" his voice wasn't harsh but bitter, and Brienne could perfectly picture his face and the downturn of his mouth as he spoke. She had seen them before but not really understood until now. It hadn't been grief, not the kind she thought. He took a breath before he spoke again. "Now tell me, is Miss Tarth a good boss?" </p>
<p>"She's the best," Pod said enthusiastically, then his eyes fell on her and he blushed to the root of his hair. "You really are, Miss Tarth."</p>
<p>"Thanks, Pod," she said faintly. "Mr Lannister," she greeted him he tensed at her voice.</p>
<p>She was so focused in Jaime that she saw it almost in slow motion, how he turned at the sound of her voice, his brow furrowed until his eyes landed on her, the sheer disbelief on his face when he saw her properly. </p>
<p>He straightened in surprise, eyes wide, mouth working open. "Brienne? You are B. Tarth?" </p>
<p>She really liked him better without the suits, and without the complication that was her position as her boss. It was inappropriate, especially because he would report directly to her, and she would have power over him. There was no way they could have a relationship while working together, not the one she wanted. It was just her luck, wasn't it? "Mr Lannister." He winced at the address and Brienne almost bit her tongue at that. "If you want to come to my office." She took the few steps to her office feeling unsteady and like the rug had been removed from under her feet.</p>
<p>"Miss Tarth, you want me to get you the Dornish today for when you finish?" Pod asked her before she closed the door. </p>
<p>She looked at Jaime and had to look away quickly at the resignation she could already see on his face. </p>
<p>"No need, Pod. I'm not hungry."</p>
<p>…. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>sorry for the delays in updates, my exchange fic is taking most of my brainpower. <br/>Let it be said I know fuck all about law and about business, in case there was any doubt, so any resemblance with real-world practices is just happenstance.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I'm glad someone finds this entertaining," Jaime said with a scowl looking at his friends. </p>
<p>Addam and Elia shared a look and started laughing again, which only made Jaime scowl harder. He usually loved his friends, they were the thing that had kept him sane growing up under the looming shadow of Tywin and the increasingly invasive and demented demands of Cersei when they were children. Without them by his side, Jaime didn't know he would have seen his sister's envy and manipulations for what they were, would have run himself to the ground to get approval and warmth from Tywin that just weren't there no matter what he did. </p>
<p>Today he just wasn't in the mood for their antics, not after having something he wanted at his fingertips and having it snatched when he least expected it.</p>
<p>Everything had been going so well with Brienne, too well apparently because fate had decided it hadn't fucked with him enough this past month.</p>
<p>Brienne was his future boss, and of course she had to be the kind with strict morals who wouldn't date a subordinate. He probably wouldn't like her if she wasn't. And he did like her, more than he had liked any person before. He wasn't about to break out the L-word when they hadn't even kissed, much as Jaime hadn't thought about anything else the entire weekend, but he wasn't so out of touch with his feeling to not know what they were. </p>
<p>Going down to the office to bring Cat some of the paperwork she had requested had been an impulse, but he was going to be in the area for lunch anyway, and he wanted to see whether Pia and Peck had settled in and if they had any gossip about Miss Tarth. He'd been pleasantly surprised to find Podrick, the timid boy from archives, working as her assistant, not a stutter or hitch in his words. </p>
<p>That was all the recommendation he needed. </p>
<p>"Mr. Lannister!" Pia said when she saw him, practically grinding to halt in front of him with wide eyes and a wider smile. She looked like she wanted to hug him and was holding herself back. Peck, next to her, mirrored her expression. "Thank you for bringing us here."</p>
<p>They looked happy, same as the rest of the people he had seen around the floor. It was open plan, and there was a wealth of personal decorations on people's desks, photographs and little trinkets and stickers that Tywin had forbidden for being undignified stuck to computer monitors and the backs of chairs. People were dressed in a mismatch of smart casual, not a tie in sight. He spied a kitchen at the back of the office, three people clustered around an expresso machine chatting, not looking over their shoulders fearfully. The office behind Pod was empty, though they told him Miss Tarth was due any minute as she was in a meeting with Cat. </p>
<p>"But she needs to be out before one," Pod said, voice as firm as Jaime had ever heard it, a far cry from the terrified boy who could barely speak. "She has a lunch engagement."</p>
<p>"So do I, Pod." One he intended to keep. Jaime resisted the urge of musing the boy's hair. </p>
<p>The irony of that lunch engagement being with him wasn't lost on Jaime now, nor the fact that Brienne was the one who didn't keep it. Nor did she come the following day, and after an hour waiting, Jaime had to admit she wasn't going to. </p>
<p>He could remember all the words spoken in the office, the professionalism and distance in them. She had explained their policies and what was expected of him once he joined, and she had been clear and fair, softspoken and polite, everything a boss should be. She had also been a stranger, her gaze veiled and her voice bland, had flinched when Jaime had called her name and asked him not to.</p>
<p>He had hoped Brienne had just needed time to process it, that she would come back to the garden and find a solution with him. She hadn't.</p>
<p>"Only you, Jaime, only you," Addam said with one last chuckle, standing from where he was sitting on Jaime's couch to grab another bottle of wine, their glasses as empty as the food containers Elia had brought when Jaime had called them. Addam made sure to clasp his hand on his shoulder when he walked past him, his touch was gentler than his words. </p>
<p>Jaime pushed the hand off him. "You can stop laughing at me at any point," he snapped, genuinely irritated at his friend's lack of empathy. "I'm not enjoying this, it's not a joke to me. Just another way for the Seven to fuck me over."</p>
<p>Addam stopped and turned on is way to the kitchen, sharing a charged look with Elia, who wiped the smile off her face as well. They were both next to his seat in a heartbeat, Elia perched on the armrest, Addam crouching in front of him and staring at his face with a serious expression. </p>
<p>"Jaime, think for a moment," Addam said, not a trace of amusement left in his voice. "You're making this worse than it really is. You're not someone who relies on a paycheck to live, you have plenty of money of your own. Enough to establish your own firm if you want. You're also not someone who can't get a position in another firm, the moment there is a rumour Jaime Lannister is in the market you'll be swarmed by offers, you're one of the best lawyers in the country, regardless of your surname. If this Brienne is that important to you and you to her, and the only thing standing between the two of you is that she's your boss, <em>quit that fucking job, you idiot</em>!"</p>
<p>Jaime blinked at Addam, then turned and did the same to Elia who was looking at him with the same fondly exasperated expression. "Oh." He had not thought of that, he really was an idiot. </p>
<p>This time, when they started laughing at him, he didn't mind. </p>
<p>That didn't stop him pushing Addam on his ass on the floor.</p>
<p>… </p>
<p>Cat stared at Jaime as if he had lost his mind. </p>
<p>He might have, he wasn't sure he hadn't. Stark, Reed &amp; Tarth was possibly the best law firm in the city besides his family's, he'd been excited to work for them, to have cases that didn't make him avoid his own eyes on the mirror or need to get drunk when they finished.  </p>
<p>He didn't care about that right now, though, not when Addam had been right about everything. This was the right thing to do, he was sure of it. Brienne was that important to him, or she could be given the chance.</p>
<p>"You haven't even started to work and you're already resigning," Cat said slowly, enunciating every word as if testing the shape in her mouth. "This might be a new record."</p>
<p>"Not that I am not grateful--" he began, because it was true and it was also the polite thing to say. </p>
<p>"Spare me the platitudes, Lannister," Cat cut him off, smoothing the single sheet of paper that Jaime had handed her a couple of minutes before when he had been allowed into her office. </p>
<p>It had taken Jaime just a few minutes to compose his resignation letter, compared to the weeks he had to work on the previous, his head still throbbing a bit with the hangover from the night before in spite of the painkiller he'd taken with breakfast. They had ended demolishing two more bottles of wine, the mood much lighter than at the beginning of the evening, before retiring to bed later than he had expected, Elia and Addam entwined around each other on the couch. "<em>About time</em>," was what Jaime had to say when he shoved them, together, into the guest room. Whether they slept or did anything more, he was too dead to the world to know and too elated to care. </p>
<p>He'd give them shit for it later.</p>
<p>He had arrived at the office early, too impatient to call beforehand and make sure Cat was available. She had been, though he would have waited for her if necessary, eyes straying to the other side of the floor hoping to catch a glimpse of Brienne in her own office. She had been already sitting behind her desk when Jaime walked past it, her back straight and her eyes fixed on her monitor, not turning to look in his direction as much as Jaime wanted her to.</p>
<p>"Does this have anything to do with why Brienne looks like someone run over her puppy and has been eating in her own office these past two days?" Cat asked and Jaime couldn't help the look at Brienne's office again. Cat sighed. "I thought so." She picked up the receiver on her phone and dialled quickly. "Come to my office, please. It's important."</p>
<p>"<em>Jaime</em>," Brienne greeted when she arrived two minutes later, her face carefully blank though her voice had sounded rough and pained. "Cat, you wanted to speak to me?"</p>
<p>Cat signalled to the chair next to Jaime and he took the chance to study Brienne. She did look sad and tired, her shoulders hunched and her eyes downcast. She was avoiding to look at him after the first acknowledgement of his presence there, it made Jaime certain he had done the right thing. </p>
<p>She wouldn't be like this if she didn't care. </p>
<p>"I'm going to take a wild guess here," Cat started, her voice that of a mother used to scold her unruly children. Jaime would have taken offence had it not made Brienne straighten in her chair as well. "That Jaime is the person you've been having all those lunches with, and somehow you managed to go all this time without knowing who the other was." It was fascinating seeing the blush climbing up Brienne's face, deepening on her cheeks and ears and crawling down her neck, the deep pink startling around the blue of her shirt. She opened her mouth but Cat just shook her head once. "I don't want to know how that happened, but I am not blind. You were happy, Brienne, and now you're not." She turned her too perceptive eyes on Jaime. "And you wanted to work with us, and now you don't."</p>
<p>"What?" Brienne turned to look at Jaime, her eyes too blue and too wide on her face. "Why?"</p>
<p>Jaime shrugged. "It's not that I don't want to work with you, but if the choice is between working for Brienne and spending time with Brienne, I can find another job easily. I can even fund my own firm, as I had to be reminded of yesterday."</p>
<p>Cat smiled at him while Brienne looked like she had been blindsided, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But--" she began before she closed her mouth abruptly, clearly at a loss for words.</p>
<p>"That won't be necessary, Jaime, though I'm glad to hear it. It will make this easier." Cat stood from her chair and went to the window, watching the city bustling outside. "I hate King's Landing," she said without looking at them, the non sequitur making Jaime blink, puzzled. "It's too big, too noisy and everyone is in a hurry to go somewhere. And it's too hot, unpleasantly so. I've only been here a couple of weeks and I miss Winterfell, and my family, terribly. Can't wait for the last interviews and contracts to be signed so I can leave." She turned back to them and leaned against the glass. "I know you were happy in Winterfell, at least for a while, but you had been steadily missing the south more and more, and the warmth and life of summer. When you started talking about looking for a job in King's Landing a couple of years ago and Howland and I offered to open the office here with you, Brienne, it was on the understanding that this was going to be your office."</p>
<p>Brienne frowned, confusion evident on the furrow between her eyes. "I don't follow."</p>
<p>Jaime thought he did, it would explain the careful interrogation during their email exchange and the hesitation for the original interview. Cat hadn't just been selecting someone to work for them, at least not the way he had thought.</p>
<p>"We weren't going to spring this on you just yet, but as you know none of my children has shown any interest in the firm, though I still have hope for Bran or Rickon going into law."</p>
<p>"Rickon wants to be an astronaut," Brienne said, still in the same confused tone but with a fond smile on her face. "This month, last month he wanted to be a pilot and the one before a princess."</p>
<p>"Better than a Raventuber." They shared a smile that spoke of their closeness and made Jaime ache for a family he had never really had. Cat turned serious again. "What I mean is, we have the office in Winterfell if one of them wants it when they are older, same goes for Howland's kids. We always intended this one as an investment, but neither I nor Howland wants to spend so much time here, we have plenty of work to do in the North"</p>
<p>"What are you saying?"</p>
<p>"This is your firm, Brienne." Cat approached her and took one of her hands from where they were clenched tightly over the armrests, knuckles almost white. "It always was intended as your firm. Yours and whoever was good enough to be made partner in three to five years out of the people we hired, I knew from the moment he sat in front of me that it would be Jaime. Howland and I will be selling our part to the both of you when the time is right, if that's something you're interested in." </p>
<p>Both of them looked at Jaime as if there was another possible answer than yes.</p>
<p>He knew he should have been made partner in his family's firm some time ago, much as he had not cared there, the only things that had kept him from it were his <em>pedestrian sensibilities</em> and what Tywin considered a lack of ambition. Here, however, the idea of seeing his name next to Brienne's on the door, and many other places besides, but he was getting ahead of himself, was something he hadn't known before he wanted so much. </p>
<p>"Are you sure?" he asked.</p>
<p>"I wasn't," Cat said with a shrug. "Not until five minutes ago when you gave me this." She picked up his resignation notice and ripped it, letting it fall dramatically on her desk like confetti. "I lied, you might have your name on the door after all."</p>
<p>"I can't accept this," Brienne finally said, her voice faint. "It's too much."</p>
<p>"It's not, I know you, you're going to work hard to make sure Howland and I get a fair return of our investment," Cat said, gently and soft, grabbing Brienne's hand again and squeezing it reassuringly. "And while I commend you for not dating your subordinate, and Jaime for choosing you over the job, I also don't see a problem for you to date your future partner." They had not been dating, not really, but if Brienne wasn't going to correct Cat neither was Jaime. That was the direction they had been moving in or they wouldn't be in this office right now. She let go of Brienne and sat again behind her desk, clearly signalling the end of the conversation.  "Now shoo, both of you, go sort out your love lives somewhere else. I have work to do if I want to be back in Winterfell for Ned's nameday."</p>
<p>Jaime was only too happy to comply, he had things to discuss with Brienne.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Jaime had not intended to end up in the garden again so soon but his feet had taken him there without consulting with his brain. He'd been walking aimlessly around the block for a while already, but he needed to think, and of course, that was his favourite thinking spot though the moment he was sitting under the shadow of their tree Jaime knew he was going to be thinking about Brienne. </p>
<p>He'd left the office after Cat had pretty much kicked them out with her blessing, a million things to say crowding against his lips, waiting just for the two of them to be alone in Brienne's office. She had stopped then, turned and headed back to Cat's office with an apologetic look. "I need to speak to her, alone."</p>
<p>"I'll be in the garden tomorrow for lunch if you still want to," he'd said instead of all the things he wanted. He could wait.</p>
<p>He looked up when he noticed the person already on the bench, a slow smile spreading on his face. Brienne was already there, sitting under the tree with none of the ease of their last dates, and they had been dates, but there. </p>
<p>She startled when Jaime approached her, tensing for a moment before she scooted to the side so he could sit next to her. That was all the invitation he needed.</p>
<p>"Needed to think?" Jaime asked, taking the offered seat and turning his body to Brienne so he could look at her fully. "This is the perfect place for it."</p>
<p>Brienne nodded, biting her lower lip, her hands tight around the fabric of her skirt, but didn't say anything. Jaime waited her out and after a minute, Brienne relaxed slightly, her shoulders coming down. "When I realized who you were and that we would be working together, that you would be working under me, I panicked and overreacted, I'm sorry about that." Jaime bit his tongue not to make a comment about being under her, too early for that. "But I was right, mixing work and personal life is never a good idea, especially if there is a power imbalance. And even if there isn't, what if it doesn't work between us? Cat has offered a solution, but that might bring more problems down the line."</p>
<p>"I was serious about working somewhere else, Brienne," Jaime interrupted her, because he had been. "If you think it will be better that way, we don't have to work together."</p>
<p>"She was also right that you're the best for the position."</p>
<p>"That doesn't matter."</p>
<p>He could see the conflict in her expression. "Why? We haven't done anything but sit here and talk, we haven't even kissed," there was a bit of colour staining her cheeks at that, her eyes straying to his lips only to dart back up immediately. "I'd understand if we'd been dating for months, but we barely know each other."</p>
<p>"Brienne, I'm over thirty years old and have never been in love before," he said with as much sincerity as he could, hoping he could explain this in a way that didn't make her run for the hills. "Or in a real relationship. My friends joke that my looks are wasted on me because I don't even care for sex, most of the time. We might barely know each other, but I know I am right about this. I can get another job easily, but I have never felt what I feel when I am with you. I know which one is important to me, don't you?"</p>
<p>Her eyes were huge and liquid as she looked at him, still biting her lip, and she nodded. </p>
<p>Jaime lifted his hand, slowly, and pressed it against her cheek. When she didn't pull away or remove it, he leaned forward. "As for not having kissed," he said as he breached the distance, her breath hot against his lips, her eyes all he could see. "It has a simple solution."</p>
<p>…</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>|I still know nothing about law, so forgive if I messed up, my knowledge comes from TV shows and Phoenix Wright, so it's a complete mess. <br/>What I know about, is IT, and Brienne's trick is technically perfectly possible.<br/>That said, thanks to everyone who has followed this flufffest with me, I really didn't intend to make a short prompt into a multichapter, but sometimes they just don't want to behave!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Brienne couldn't stop touching her mouth every five minutes for the rest of the evening after she parted from Jaime.</p>
<p>They didn't speak much after that first kiss, there wasn't much left to say after all, but they kissed. They kissed until Brienne's lips felt tender and bruised, her hands tight around the back of his jacket and her breath coming out in short gasps. They kissed slowly, tenderly, discovering and exploring each other's mouth, though still keeping it almost chaste, until Jaime pulled back and pressed his forehead against hers.</p>
<p>"Do you believe me now?" Jaime asked, his voice rough and his eyes dark.</p>
<p>Yes, of course she believed him. She had been feeling the same, though it was still too soon to admit to it out loud, and as much as she wanted to, Brienne still couldn't imagine anyone making those sorts of sacrifices for her. "Not sure," she said instead, looking at his lips, red and glistening and so close yet still too far from hers. "You might need to convince me some more."</p>
<p>Jaime chuckled and kissed her again, and again, and again until Brienne's alarm rang and she had to rush back to the office for a meeting, hair a mess where Jaime had tangled his fingers in it and mouth swollen.</p>
<p>She had not eaten, again, and this time she did not care or feel hungry at all.</p>
<p>The rest of the day dragged, Brienne was unable to focus on anything, the memory of their kisses coming to the forefront of her mind every few minutes and distracting her from her work.</p>
<p>"I see you made up," Cat said with an arched eyebrow after just one look at Brienne's face when she entered her office for their scheduled end of day meeting. Brienne’s smile and blush was all the response she needed. "Are you still alright with Arya staying at your place? She won't be coming to King's Landing for another month yet, we can still get her in campus accommodation."</p>
<p>"Why wouldn't I be?" Brienne asked, surprised.</p>
<p>She was looking forward to having Arya with her, having met Jaime had not changed that, she missed the little family she had made in Winterfell terribly even with almost daily calls with one Stark or another and the constant stream of messages that made them feel so close still.</p>
<p>"New couples need a lot of space to be together," Cat said, completely serious though there was a spark of amusement in her eyes.</p>
<p>Brienne opened her mouth to protest but thought of Jaime and how much she had wanted to keep kissing him in the garden, how much she had wanted them to be anywhere but there so she could put her hands under his shirt and press her palms against his skin, she didn't think it was a thirst that would be quenched in just a month.</p>
<p>"He has his own place, we won't make Arya uncomfortable," Brienne finally said even as she blushed, her thoughts clearly reflected on her face.</p>
<p>"I don't think you could if you tried." Cat started laughing and Brienne could do nothing but join her, mirth bubbling out of her in a way she had not thought possible a few months ago, that she had believed was beyond her when she left Tarth.</p>
<p>But she was here now, with the sun on her skin and a new and exciting job. And she had friends and a family, even if not by blood, and now she had someone special, someone who also made her laugh and was ready to make sacrifices for her.</p>
<p>Brienne let her joy take her, she might not understand how she got this lucky, but she was happy. For the first time in too many years, she was really happy.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Brienne was almost out of the door for her usual lunch date with Jaime, thinking just about what they would eat today and how it would taste on his lips when they kissed goodbye under the garden's gate, same as they had been doing for the past couple of days, when she heard the commotion by the reception.</p>
<p>"I'm afraid Ms Stark is not available," Lora, the new receptionist, was saying. Her voice was strained and her eyes darted wildly around looking for help.</p>
<p>"You'll find she is available for me," a man said, his voice imperious and so cold it gave Brienne shudders. "Tell her Tywin Lannister is here and I don't enjoy being kept waiting."</p>
<p>Brienne startled at the name, she turned to the reception where a man in his late fifties stood glaring at Lora, who was clearly panicking now. Tywin Lannister was a name that invoked that reaction easily, it seemed, even from people who didn't work for him. Lora saw Brienne and her hand, which had been on her phone's receiver, stopped before she could dial the number, expression flooding with relief.</p>
<p>Brienne approached them, she had learned enough about this man from Jaime and Pod to dislike him already.</p>
<p>"I'll take care of it, Lora, no need to bother Cat," Brienne said and Tywin Lannister turned his eyes on Brienne. He looked her up and down, taking in her height, features and her dress, a lot more casual because of the summer heat than on the days she had to be in court, and clearly finding her wanting.</p>
<p>Men had been finding Brienne wanting her entire life, all men but Jaime, it was nothing new to her. Brienne straightened to her full height, a few inches taller than him in her heeled sandals, and looked down on him. There was something familiar in his features, and it took her a moment to realize it was because they were so similar to Jaime's. Tywin had the same green eyes and high cheekbones, and the same golden hair, what little of it remained on his head. He had nothing of his warmth or smile, though, his face frozen on a rictus of displeasure.</p>
<p>"Who might you be?" Tywin asked, dismissive. Men also underestimated her, something she intended to take advantage of.</p>
<p>"Brienne Tarth, I'm the senior partner in this office and I'd appreciate it if you don't try to terrorize my staff." Tywin narrowed his eyes at her but she didn't flinch or do anything but stare him down. "Cat's in a meeting." Brienne made a production of checking her mobile, as if looking at her own calendar, while accessing the meeting rooms system and locating the one she needed. "I have five minutes before I have to be somewhere else." She started to walk towards the little room on the side of the reception. "Or if you prefer, you can call beforehand and get an appointment when one of us is free."</p>
<p>Tywin Lannister wasn't used to being talked like that, and he didn't like it. He was about to say something when Pia, Peck and Pod walked in the direction of the lift, chatting animatedly on their way to lunch. They froze when they saw Tywin, who turned to look at them with a sneer.</p>
<p>"So he's really come to this place," he said, his tone the one used to speak of a flea bottom brothel not one of the most prestigious law firms in the kingdom, then followed Brienne inside the room. He didn't sit once they were in the room, the door closed behind Brienne, and neither did she, just waited by the door until he spoke again. "I have been informed you have offered employment to Jaime Lannister in this firm, you will rescind that offer."</p>
<p>Brienne was shocked for all of a second, then remembered this man had thought to fire Pia and Peck as retaliation for his son leaving his firm, and had disowned him for the same reason. She took a deep breath and relaxed her clenched fists. "I will do no such thing."</p>
<p>"Is that correct, Brienne Tarth?" He didn't raise his voice or make any outward threatening gestures, and yet Brienne could feel a sense of menace coming from him. "You do know who I am."</p>
<p>"Yes, I know who you are Mr. Lannister, and it's not your name on the door in this office. " She wanted to cross her arms over her chest, but any gesture that could be seen as defensive was a bad idea with men like this one. She couldn't show herself as being intimidated by him. "Catelyn Stark and Howland Reed are the only people who can tell me how to staff our office. Jaime," she wasn't going to call Jaime his son since neither of them recognized the relationship. In Jaime's case, she couldn't blame him, "is a good lawyer and a good fit for our firm, and we are going to welcome him on board as soon as his garden leave is finished."</p>
<p>"Are you certain of that?" he asked, eyebrows up and voice silky. "I wonder how he's going to work for you once he's been disbarred." There it was, the threat.</p>
<p>She wasn't surprised, not after what Jaime had told her about this man, but she was saddened and enraged. She narrowed her eyes at Tywin. "Why would he be? Hasn't he always worked in your firm, under your direct supervision? Has there been any suspicion of illegal dealings or malpractice? If so, shouldn't you have already reported it to the police already? He wasn't fired but resigned, what a coincidence that all of that happened under your nose and was only found after he left."</p>
<p>Tywin narrowed his eyes at her. "It will be found, as long as he remains employed by you, something will be found."</p>
<p>"What you're telling me is to fire your son or you'll fabricate evidence to have his licence removed," Brienne said, enunciating clearly so every word stretched between the two of them.</p>
<p>"Is that what I've said?"</p>
<p>Brienne had rarely hated anyone, but she could admit she hated Tywin and had only known him for five minutes. "He will deny it."</p>
<p>Tywin still appeared completely unconcerned to be trying to ruin his son's life and Brienne clenched her teeth so she wouldn't start shouting imprecations at him. If she lost her cool, he'd win. "I just need to speak to the right people, it will be his word against mine then, and we both know whose word will be believed. "</p>
<p>"<em>Do we</em>?" She looked straight at the camera mounted on the TV on the wall, at the red light signalling it was on. Tywin followed her look, his expression frosting over when he saw it. There was a reason she had chosen this room for their chat and was grateful that Pod had spent all that time getting the apps on her mobile and explaining how to use them. She had filmed him without consent, of course it would be inadmissible in any court, but just the video of him threatening his own son out of spite would be enough to ruin his reputation and they both knew it. When he turned his eyes back to Brienne there was some grudging respect on it, though it couldn't mask the hatred. "I think we don't have anything else to discuss now, and I'm already late for lunch with Jaime."</p>
<p>She opened the door and waited until Tywin had left without a backward glance at her, back ramrod straight and anger radiating out of him, then collapsed on one of the chairs in the room like her strings had been cut. Not one second after the lift had pinged, the room filled with Cat, Lora and Pod. Peck and Pia hovering over the door, as if unsure of their reception or unwilling to be in the same room Tywin had been a minute before. "What a hateful man," she finally said, her breath shuddering out of her. How it was possible that man shared half his genetic code with Jaime?</p>
<p>"What did he want?" Cat asked, going straight to the important thing. </p>
<p>Brienne breathed a few times while they looked expectantly at her. "For us to rescind Jaime's offer of employment." Brienne didn't mention Tywin's threats, or hers, there was no point in it.</p>
<p>Cat didn't look surprised. "For his expression as he left, he didn't get what he wanted."</p>
<p>"Of course not," Brienne confirmed, as if she would have bent to that man's whims. She stood up. "Now, I really am late for lunch."</p>
<p>"Take your time, you don't have any meetings after this. Go home or stay with Jaime if you want."</p>
<p>Brienne nodded and she hugged Cat briefly before dashing out of the door. "Thanks."</p>
<p>She ran all the way to the park, where Jaime was already waiting for her under their tree, book in hand and the bag with their food sitting next to him.</p>
<p>"Sorry," she said, dropping a quick peck to his lips that made his smile widen. "Something came up as I was leaving and I couldn't text."</p>
<p>"One of your very intense clients?" He asked with the mischievous smile she loved.</p>
<p>Brienne considered for a moment whether to lie to him or to tell him the truth, but it really wasn't a choice. "No, Tywin Lannister."</p>
<p>Jaime tensed at the name, the smile dropping off his face and his eyes narrowing. "What has the esteemed Tywin done this time?" He asked, and it was obvious that he was braced for the worst, his voice automatically dropping any emotion in it.</p>
<p>"I think it's better if I show you," Brienne said, taking her mobile and loading the recording on the screen. She grabbed Jaime's free hand between hers and looked only at him as he watched the scene.</p>
<p>It was easy to see what he was feeling, the line between his brows as he frowned at Tywin's opening gambit, eyes narrowed and flinty and jaw set, then the flush crawling to his face at Brienne's calm refusal to comply, his mouth hanging open on a loud exhale and his eyes widening and darkening. He tensed again at Tywin's tone and chuckled a bit at Brienne's dismissal of him, flashing a quick impressed smile in her direction before turning again to the video as if hypnotised. He flinched at Tywin's threat and was vibrating on the bench by Brienne's manoeuvre, his hand clenched so hard around Brienne it should have been painful.</p>
<p>By the end, when Brienne looked straight into the camera and Tywin stormed out, his flush had expanded down to his neck and ears, and it didn't look like anger anymore.</p>
<p>He let out a shuddering breath when the video ended, and carefully, as if it was something incredibly delicate, placed the mobile on the bench by his side. Then he turned to Brienne, eyes bright and face flushed, and was kissing her deeply, devouringly, the next heartbeat. Brienne opened up to him, gripping his curls with her free hand and kissing back just as hard.</p>
<p>"Gods, I haven't wanted anyone this much in my life," he rasped against Brienne's mouth between biting kisses, the hand that wasn't twined with hers clutching at the back of her dress. "I don't think I can let you go back to the office."</p>
<p>Brienne felt the same, want pooling in her belly and making her feel too warm, the shadow of their tree not enough when Jaime was like having the sun in her arms. "I don't have to," she offered, and Jaime stopped kissing her abruptly. He leaned back to look her in the eye, his own blown so dark there was barely a ring of green visible.</p>
<p>He blinked and shuddered, then pressed his mouth to Brienne again, quick and sweet, and stood from the bench. "My place is a few minutes walk from here."</p>
<p>They took a cab in the end because Jaime kept tugging at Brienne's hand and leading her to darkened corners to kiss her again, this time pressing his entire body against hers, his arousal evident when he did, and they would never make it there if they kept walking. Keeping her hands above the waist during the short ride was one of the hardest things Brienne had done, and by the time they arrived at his flat, after Jaime had kept kissing her in the elevator, her lips were swollen and her underwear was damp.</p>
<p>Jaime fumbled with the keys in his impatience and made a triumphant sort of noise when he finally slotted it in and opened the door, and then the brakes were off. She didn't know how they made it to the bedroom or see anything in the flat at all, and for the first time, she didn't care that the bedroom was drenched in sunlight and Jaime could see each and every one of her freckles and flaws, she just wanted his hands on her skin and his mouth on her, and wanted to touch as much of the tanned skin she could reach, wanted to taste it and moved her lips down his neck, scraping her teeth down the hollow of his throat and enjoying the shudder that went through him. It was quick, embarrassingly so, and frantic, without the slow exploration of new lovers. Jaime fumbled for a condom while Brienne pulled at his hair so she could keep kissing his mouth when it tried to wander down, too far from her lips, and she opened her thighs to let him settle between them and groaned against his mouth when he finally, finally slid inside her.</p>
<p>Afterwards, they lied there, catching their breaths and still kissing gently, Brienne's skin sheened in sweat and tingling where Jaime's fingers where playing join the dots with her freckles.</p>
<p>"Thank you," Jaime said, lifting his eyes from where they were tracing the path of his fingers to look into her eyes, the expression on them loving and full of wonder.</p>
<p>"What for?" She asked, still breathless.</p>
<p>"For being there when I needed it the most, even if you didn't know me." Jaime had told her about his escape into the garden when his job, his family, and everything became too much, about his first impression of her. "For still wanting to be with me when you did, for standing up to Tywin for me." She heard what he wasn't saying, that nobody had considered him worth that before, a mirror of her own thoughts about being worth his sacrifice. "You have made a powerful enemy."</p>
<p>"I don't care," she pressed herself more fully against him and kissed him until they had both lost the little breath they had. "Let him come for us."</p>
<p>If Jaime wasn't going to let go of her, then she wasn't going to let go of him either.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>"I think it looks better with Brienne's name before yours," Addam said, staring at the newly painted door of the office, his mouth twitching up in that way he had when he was trying not to laugh.</p>
<p>Standing next to him, Jaime sent him a glare, but it was clear he was amused at his friend's antics.</p>
<p>"I think it looks better with Jaime's," Elia countered, the mirth barely suppressed in her voice, her shoulder bumping against Addam's.</p>
<p>"We should have kept the old one, Stark is a classy name," Arya declared, sounding bored though she had taken a photo and sent it to the Winterfell group chat, which had been blowing up with messages since then, all their friends had something to say about that, even the ones who had never set foot in the office.</p>
<p>"You are all assholes, I should have never introduced you," Jaime bemoaned, same as he did at least once a month when they all ganged up on him.</p>
<p>It was all a front, and not even a good one.</p>
<p>"No, you shouldn't," Brienne laughed and took his hand in hers, looking down where their fingers were entwined and still marvelling at the matching rings on them.</p>
<p>Jaime loved the fact that Brienne had become almost instant friends with Addam, their irreverent sense of humour shinning especially when they were teasing him. He loved that Elia and Addam had moved together and had accepted Brienne quickly and without reservation, and that even the rest of the Martells had basically adopted her in their midst. He and Arya got along like a house on fire, and from the moment she had moved to King's Landing he had also been taken under the Stark wing, even when he and Ned didn't always see eye to eye. Jaime loved that in the past five years any Stark or Reed might drop into their house unannounced, and that they had a standing invitation to Sevenmas in Winterfell to match the one to Sunspear for summer. He loved that his little chosen family of three had blown up out of proportion, a shield as thick and strong as the Wall against his birth family, who remained a thorn on their sides. He loved that all of them had flown into King's Landing and crammed together inside their little garden to see them exchange vows under their tree, and they had not commented when their voiced failed and their eyes were wet, though there were a million pictures of it.</p>
<p>And he especially loved Brienne, and in the past five years she had grown to believe this, and to believe she was worth it. Same as she loved him.</p>
<p>Brienne looked one last time at the names on the door, the last wedding present from the Starks, and squeezed his hand. He turned to look at her with his usual beautiful smile and gave her a quick kiss in the lips.</p>
<p>"Come on guys, everyone’s waiting at the restaurant and I'm starving," Jaime said, pulling at Brienne's hand on his way to the lift.</p>
<p>They all squeezed inside staring at the firm's door as the lift closed: <em>Tarth &amp; Tarth.</em></p>
<p>...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Jaime's secret garden is based on the Phoenix garden in soho, one of my favourite places in London.</p><p>https://www.thephoenixgarden.org/</p></blockquote></div></div>
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